Is There a Wall Between IT and the Rest of the Company? Part 1 of 2

Questions they typically have include the following.
* What will make your marketing more effective?
* What do the merchants need to plan, grow and evaluate their merchandise selection?
* How can they help operations become more efficient?

Technology First, Application Function Second
In many companies, IT staffers often look at application function as secondary to technology. Additionally, they hide behind a lot of technical jargon that pushes users away from them.

And systems software vendors are no better. Gone are the days when talented sales and support people really understand the industry. Many barely know their companies’ systems and are unable to demonstrate them without the aid of a support analyst.

The possible results to of all this add up to a collection of negatives.

If a technically advanced system that fits the IT standard is selected, it may be a weak system from a business perspective. Technology by itself rarely gives a strong return on investment.

The IT department’s lack of a business focus means users never make high-level use of the systems in place. They don’t know what applications and capabilities exist in commercial systems or in previous generations of in-house developed systems.

And there still isn’t a partnership between the user departments and IT, which optimizes the full, untapped potential of IT. The company suffers because the rather large investments in critical applications don’t materialize, or they’re years off of the projection.

Now that I’ve laid out the problems, next month in the final part of this two-part series, I’ll provide some tips on how your company can bridge the gap between these groups.

Curt Barry is president of F. Curtis Barry & Co., a multichannel operations and fulfillment consulting firm with expertise in multichannel systems, warehouse, call center, inventory and benchmarking. Learn more online at http://www.fcbco.com .